Nikon's president confirms a 'D5' mirrorless equivalent is in the works

Japanese business publication Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun has shared a quote from a recent interview with Nikon's CEO, Mr. Toshikazu Umatate, wherein he says a flagship mirrorless camera—equivalent to Nikon's D5 DSLR—will be introduced.

Nikon to introduce a top-end model of the mirror-less camera. Time is a non-published, but Umatate Toshikazu president was revealed in response to the interview of the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. Top-end model of the digital single-lens reflex camera “D5.”

No specific time-frame was given for the impending release, but this marks the first time anyone from Nikon has officially confirmed a pro-style mirrorless camera designed to replace Nikon's flagship D4/D5 DSLR lineup.

Sony really blew it. They never had a chance to compete with Nikon or Sony in the D5 or 1DXMKII They should gone after Nikon, Canon, Hasselblad, Pentax and Fuji by nibbling away at the MF Market. All those years making sensors for Hasselblad, did they learn nothing???

Actually the preorders for the Fuji GFX 100 are piling up; they are selling a lot of those given the price point.

I think in the longer run Fuji may very well be vindicated by their skipping FF and going straight to MF, by having a very thriving and growing market there.

Think 10 years into the future: who will buy dedicated cameras aside from pro's? Only those wanting the very best, and Fuji is already starting to hit FF AF performance in MF body with the GFX 100. In 10 years a Fuji MF body will do just as well as a FF body but with a larger sensor. Serious hobbyists will love that.

I also agree that Sony never was was going to compete with Canon/Nikon pro bodies in the pro sports world. It would be like Tesla thinking they can convince large construction companies to switch from their workhorse Ford pickup trucks.

As to the closure of the NJ facility, it still leaves Canon with a far greater service network than poor Sony.

Apparently the repairs are now going to their Newport News VA facility. According to some users, they had shipped stuff to their NJ facility and it had come back with a return address from Newport News anyway.

But VA gets my gear back to me in (2) two days. CPS has served me in the US and all over the world for events. They closed one facility and made the VA one even better! Since I get two day service... I don't care if they are are on the Moon! :)

In Sept 2018 it was impossible to rent an A7III anywhere on short notice where I live. ~2 months waiting time. I can only imagine how many of these were actually sold. It is the best allrounder camera released in the recent years. None of the GFX will get anywhere near this.

No flame...just some truth. Yes, the a9 is impressive with its high fps and AF.

But those specs do not make it the same as a pro body like the D5. People who use the D5 and 1DX II type bodies value the larger size with the tank like construction quality. They use and abuse their equipment all of the time, and use it in all sorts of environments, like rain, snow, extreme heat, etc. They trust those big bodies but many wouldn't trust the a9 in such conditions, esp. with repeated use. It's one thing for an amateur to use an a9 once or twice in the rain or cold, but for a pro who uses it all the time it's a whole different story. Also, I can tell you that when the pro's carry those big pro bodies, they aren't very gentle with them. They can't afford to be, whether you're moving in the rain forest or at the sidelines of an NFL game, you don't have time to pamper your equipment.

the "truth" is that paying $5500 for a dslr doesn't guarantee reliability, even when used indoors.

here for example are several people reporting freezing and lockups with the 1dxmk2:

"I used the past 2 days the Canon 1DxII for Videoproductions in 4k (25fps) in a studio. The camera froze 4-5 times. I once saw an "error 80" and once a "card error"-something. The display froze, alle buttons (including power switch) wouldnt respond. I had to remove the battery. After that It worked immedietaly again. The file was lost however. The error log after 4 freezes just includes 1 and thats "error 80" without any usefull further information.

...We had the same lockup scenario happen today as well. We used a 1Dx mkii.The 1D locked up several times during the day, and at one stage we lost the 4k footage, because the camera just "kept on writing" even after I pushed the start/stop button to stop the recording - even though it wasn't actually writing.https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4217510

@MILCman: I can find any number of anecdotal reports here and there about any camera body or any piece of equipment failing, no matter how reliable. Your data proves nothing. Please read up on logical fallacies.

What we do know is that pro's across the world trust the Canon/Nikon pro bodies and find them to be very reliable. Would you like me to list some anecdotal examples of pro's who use those bodies and find them to be reliable?

The Sony A9 and all of their bodies by comparison are fragile. It would be difficult to imagine pro's using them at the sidelines of an NFL game or in the rainforest or the African veldt. Asking the pro's to trust the Sony bodies would be like asking them to use some dinky compact car instead of a Ford F350.

@MILCman: BTW it's amazing how all of these press agencies and high level pro's keep buying the top of the line pro bodies from Canon and Nikon. They wouldn't do so if they were unreliable because they have too much at stake.

And again, if you hold one of the pro Canon/Nikon bodies and then a Sony, and then ask yourself which one you would trust to hold up in the most demanding conditions, then you realize the Sony doesn't have a chance against Canon/Nikon.

"I'm on a location shoot in LATAM priot to Olympics and have two 1DXMKII bodies with me. Both have required me to remove the batteries and reboot to get the cameras to work. The 1DXMKII's are freezing on me...

Lost critical shots at International sports meet because of this. I'm SCREWED.

There is a defect here is both cameras are doing the same thing. Reads as 2000 shots available and the cameras focus turns off and the cameras does not shoot.

I'm just a pro sports shooter... in field with multiple 1DXMKII's doing the same thing and another guy right next to me having same issue. No luck here. REAL issue. Lucky is BS. we're both having to remove out batteries and reinsert them to get camera to function. NO JOKE. this is serious. Can anyone offer us in the field some help? No CPS her 1000's of miles from US.

@MILCman: you can waste your time posting all of those stories where people had problems with their pro bodies but it doesn't change the big picture, which is that those pro bodies are so much more reliable than the Sony bodies.

Would you like me to post incidents of Sony bodies breaking down in the field? It would probably be too long of a list for me to do so!

Anyone can look at the bodies and see that the Canon/Nikon pro bodies are workhorses, whereas the Sony bodies are toys in comparison. That's why the pro's are not switching. Call me when large press agencies start to switch. Let me know when you see all of those Sony bodies on the sidelines of NFL games. Until then what you post is just misleading propaganda.

@Thoughts R Us - how many 1dxmk2 failures do you need to see, to prove that $5500 for a dslr doesn't guarantee you reliability? here is another example:

"I have over 3000 images that i supplied to Canon that demonstrate an inconsistent A/F system from my copy of the 1DX MKII when used with a 500mm f4 MKII,300mm f2.8 MKII and a 70-200 f2.8 MKII and am hoping i can gather more evidence of the lock up next weekend over three days of work i have."https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4014541?page=8

"Having the same problems with a 1DX MKII shooting motorsport and have now gone back to my 1DX as the MKII on my bigger primes is just a joke and having to miss shots while pulling a battery out every now and again is a PITA.

Camera locks just after mirror flips up or on initial focus at which point the viewfinder display as in A/F point and info vanishes yet rear and top display stay on regardless of main switch position and only way to reset is a battery pull,even had a couple of times that I have had to wait for the mirror to return before re inserting the battery again.

"I just received my 1DX MKII and it freezes all the time. Using f/4 200-400 and 600mm. Switched to f/2,8 300mm same. Focus soft on all lenses, FOCAL cannot adjust MA to fix issue. I've shot with 1DX for many years and can't figure this out. Called Canon CPS and they claim no other reports of any of these issues. Any chance anyone else is having same issues, I can't figure this out.Jerry

...There are other users who have reported this issue as well with the camera locking up. They just didn't start their own threads. In addition to the lack up issue, there are quite a few people who are having their fies corrupted off f the cfast card.

@MILCman: you can keep wasting your time with those silly copy and pastes of yours but here's the facts: those anecdotal stories mean nothing. I could post as many and more stories from people with Sony bodies breaking down.

How many Canon pro bodies are in use? How many continue to use them without problem, even though they really use them to the extreme?

Those pro bodies by Canon and Nikon are built like tanks and behave as such. They are extremely reliable. Give me hard data on percentage reliability. Of course you don't have that data.

I will take a 1DX II or D5 any day over a Sony toy body for heavy duty use and apparently the pro's agree with me. Funny how you never have any counter argument to the fact that so many pro's continue to trust these brands.

Until then just keep doing your silly copy and paste...knock yourself out if you will; it impresses no one and certainly doesn't move the market.

@Thoughts R Us - here are a couple of examples of simply awful af from the 1dxmk2... this level of performance is not reliable, at all:

"1dX Mark II - many out of focus photos in SERVO mode

Sine November 2016 I'm the owner of brand new 1dX Mark II. In general camera is impressive, however I've been struggling with big amount of out of focus pictures, especially in Servo Mode, shooting sports in which the athlete is approaching fast.

Of course, those are not easy circumstances, but I still feel like my old 1d Mark IV or current 7d Mk2 are more reliable and have better % of good, sharp shots.

If Sony were used on the sidelines of the NFL games, we'd never have any pictures! Their cameras would break all of the time. Imagine a Sony camera at a game in the snow in Green Bay! Imagine a Sony camera getting run over a by a 350 lb player! Imagine Sony cameras in a pouring rain in Miami.

Sony cameras truly look like toys next to a 1DXII or D5. Too often people on gear forums forget that a camera has to actually hold up under use to be useful. So we worry about some esoteric data point on a DR curve but forget that it all means nothing if a camera cannot function.

@Thoughts I have heard this Sony-bashing for years. It used be the battery first - people complaining that 300 shots by CIPA were not enough. Now when Nikon and Canon launched their mirrorless cameras, people started saying that 300 shots by CIPA meant 600+ shots in real life, which was more than sufficient. So, after Nikon launches the mirrorless equivalent of D5 in a relatively small body (could be larger than A9 though), people change their tone about A9 too. You will too. Waiting for such a body from Nikon. Always had immense respect for such a company - amazing D850 and new lenses. Sony and Nikon provide most value for the money they charge. Canon (except for their lenses which are the cheapest because of cost amortization over large volume) is the most stingy in terms of providing features for the money charged. No wonder their R that launched at $2300 is selling for less than $200 now. Makes sense because of the incredible brand equity they have built over years. They deserve it

@MILC ManHere's some anecdotal evidence for you. Every major sporting event that I have seen is dominated by Nikon and Canon DSLR's. I have to assume that those guys are happy with their equipment as they havn't jumped ship to Sony.I've owned Canon SLR's for 35 years and despite the abuse that I have handed out to them only 1 has ever failed on me. In hindsight falling off a boat with camera in hand was probably not the best thing to do.I also love Sony products, I've certainly owned enough of them over the years, from TVs to laptops to camcorders and point and shoot cameras, however aside from the TV, every one of them failed earlier than they should have. It's easy to cherry pick horror stories of equipment failures but the truth is the Pro sports shooters trust their big antiquated DSLRs to get the job done.

How many times are people going to write the same stupid thing; sporting events are not dominated by Canonikon because those cameras are reliable, they are dominated by them because they were the only cameras with the lenses and speed to do the job.

All cameras are reliable until they break.

Sony is a 3rd choice in the sports/action field and has introduced disruptive technology. It has the fastest, most accurately focussing camera and the best long lenses, although still relatively few in number.

The A9 was conceived for pros and enthusiast users because Sony did not have the lenses to make it a wholly a pro camera. The A9II will not need to do such double duty.

It is likely to still be modular - with a detachable grip, but it will be targeted entirely at pro users. It will have the hardiest build imaginable.

To understand the impact that Sony will have on this segment just imagine the A9 with an EF or F mount. Would you be seeing it at sidelines? Darn right you would.

I shoot sporting events, I don't "seen" them, and the last four sporting events that I've shot all had sony milc cameras present, beyond the a9 that I was using.

I've posted dozens of a9 action pics here on dpr, unlike all of the fake accounts in this thread, and also I've posted first-hand testimonial links, from other actual sports shooters as well, that bailed on canikon for sony.

@MILC Man1. I'm not sure what relavance when I joined this forum has to do with my comments. Are only long time posters allowed to contribute?2. I'm not denying that the A9 is an outstanding camera, that takes great photos, so are the D5 and 1DXII and their predecessors.3. I'll renew my prescription lenses so I can spot all those Sony's that I've missed on the sidelines of major sporting events.4. My post was mostely a rebuttal to your comments regarding reliability issues with the 1DXII and to point out that posting a few anecdotal references to problems is pointless as a measure of reliability, as anyone can cherry pick comments to support their assertions, including my history of reliable Canon products and multiple failures of Sony products. This is not indicative of the market as a whole but only a snapshot of one persons history.

@MILC manI had a meeting yesyerday with Olympus and one of the topics was a recent spate of failures we have had with their equipment and the cost and time for repair. This does not mean that we are dropping their products nor that they are unreliable. To do so over a few isolated incidents would be irrational, particulary given the large investment our company has in their products and the overall quality and reliability of their products and service (although if Fujinon continue to drop their prices I may well look at them).To avoid confusion, the products that I am talking about are felexible endoscope systemsn which are camera systems and in which Olympus dominates the market.

@MILC ManI work for a major hospital group and meet with Medical equipment vendors regulary.The brand loyalty of camera users is nothing compared to doctors, who even have preferences of what brand of forceps they will use.Photography is my hobby, not my proffesion and most of my photos are of family and friends and places I have been. I have no intention of posting them for your approval.We use multiple types of camera systems and brands in our hospitals. Olympus, Karl Storz, Richard Wolf, Asculap and have 1080p, 4K and 3D systems.All are good, all have the plus's and minus's, all tout their systems as the best ln the market and all have their "fan boys" who don't want to use anything else. At the end of the day all of them produce incredible images and you know what, the patients benefit from the competition. There are a lot of parallels there with the ILC market.

@MILC ManWhat false claims?I am stating what I have seen personally.I am not a proffesional sports photographer, but I am a sports fanatic who regulary attends and watches major sports events, International Rugby, International Cricket, Football, F1 and because I am a camera geek I always check out what is being used on the sidelines. What I see, and again this is only anecdotal evidence, is mostely Canon & Nikon.I don't live in the USA or follow much US sport, so it may be different over there, I'll take your word for that.Lets see what gets used at the Rugby world cup in Japan later this year and the Olympics next year.To be clear I am not putting down Sony cameras, the A9 in particular is an outstanding camera, in many ways better than both the D5 and 1DXII, but it and other mirrorless cameras have not yet replaced the big 2 DSLR's as the camera of choice for pro sport photography. Either that or I really do need to change my glasses.

@MILC ManYour reply to the "fake account" about reliabilty of the A9 was not to show that the A9 is a well made and reliable camera but to try to create a false narrative that the Canon 1DXII was unreliable by referencing a few anecdotal comments.As I said it is easy to cherry pick comments to prove a point, which was the whole point of my posts.And just as a passing note, highlighting that I joined the forum in May of this year to try to discredit anything I have to say is a bit rich coming from you, when I had a look at your profile you only joined 1 year before, I had assumed you had been on the DPR forum for years. As for your snide comment regarding my mention of meeting with Olympus, it was a good meeting and went a long way to solving the issues we had by looking at verifiable facts and not conjecture and anecdotal evidence. On that note, good night and all the best with your photography.

you try to claim "anecdotal" is not valid, but then contradict yourself by posting your own "anecdotal" claims about how canon cameras worked for you for 35 years... you try to claim that it's invalid for other people to quote actual experience, but your own irrelevant experience is somehow valid.

we see behavior like that from new posters, who have multiple fake identities out here.

@MILC ManMy use of anecdotes is not contradictory, it is pointing out that anyone can do that to support their claims as you did when countering that the 1DXII was not reliable.You are tieing youself in knots with the burden of proof argument, just in this thread you have made claims of unreliabilty of the 1DXII based only on anecdotal evidence, insinuated that I have multiple fake accounts based only on my recently joining the forum.Take a look at my posting history since I have been on this forum, I have never denigrated Sony cameras or any other brand, or suggested that Canon cameras are the only choice.A quick look at your posting history on the other hand shows an overwhelming bias towards mirrorless cameras and Sony in particular and an almost pathalogical hatred of Canon.I shoot Canon and am happy. You shoot Sony and are happy. I don't put down other brands nor do I try to push people towards what I use, I will however call out people who do.

@KZ7 - your exact words were: "went a long way to solving the issues we had by looking at verifiable facts and not conjecture and anecdotal evidence", while at the same time claiming that your 35 years of canon use somehow proved something.

that's a direct contradiction.

you failed to understand the concept of burden of proof, again, even after I provided you with a link that explained it, and how it was used here, with specific examples where the fake account repeatedly called sony "fragile", with no proof of any kind.

you aren't admitting to the issues with that totally unsubstantiated "fragile" claim, because you have an abnormal fixation with defending canon, just like the individual who posted it... that's why you tried to call me out, instead of him, when it was his garbage that started this exchange.

@MILC ManI'll try one last time to explain this to you.I was making a point that my history with Canon reliability was no more valid an argument than your pointing to a few references of Canon failures. Both are anecdotal and not data based facts of the overall reliability of a particular piece of equipment.The original posters claim of Sony unreliability is the same.Failures occur in all equipment no matter how well made or how well maintained. It is the rate of those failures and the cause of them that judges whether equipment is reliable or not. Your history of posts shows that it is you and not me who feels the need to defend a your favoured brand. I would have called you out if you had cited the D5 instead of the 1DXII, if you used the same types of examples without backing it up with facts.You feel that the burden of proof is not on you, no problem. Just don't be surprised when you get called out for pushing false narratives.

@KZ7 - you can't explain away the direct contradiction that you already made.

and you failed once again, to call out the fake account that started this with the totally unsubstantiated claim that the a9 was "fragile", so you don't have any credibility to be calling anyone out, about anything.

your entire post history out here has revolved around canon, for all the obvious reasons.

we tend to see blind platform fanaticism with certain types of new accounts.

@MILC ManMy posts tend to skew towards Canon because that is what I use and what I have experience with.I bought my first SLR, a Canon T50, because it was on sale, it could just have easily been a Nikon or Olympus or Pentax. I've stayed with Canon through the change over to EOS and digital because I have always been pleased with the pictures and they have never let me down. If that is your definition of blind platform fanaticism then fine. The only camera that has seriously tempted me to change systems is the Nikon D850 which I think is the best all round ILC on the market. None of that changes your trying to create false narratives about the reliability of the 1DXII. You keep bringing up the originator of the post, he was wrong too, I've already said that. I don't care that you like Sony, or that others use Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, etc., that's all good, all of those systems can take great pictures.Just try and make responsible comments supported by facts.

@KZ7 - you can't explain away the direct contradiction that you already made.

you failed once again, to call out the fake account that started this with the totally unsubstantiated claim that the a9 was "fragile", so you don't have any credibility to be calling anyone out, about anything.

your entire post history out here has revolved around canon, for all the obvious reasons.

we tend to see blind platform fanaticism with certain types of new accounts.

@MILC ManNo more original thoughts?Just copy and paste your previous comment.You really are quite laughable.This will be my last post on this thread but time for one last comment.I checked out your profile in the hopes of seeing some of the wonderful work you have done and what tools you use to do so and maybe picking up some tips from your vast experience.Problem was, no gallery, no challenges entered, no equipment listed.The exact things you used to suggest that mine is a fake account.Nothing like having a good laugh before going to sleep, keeps me young, in spirit at least if not in body.Its been good craic bantering with you but in the immortal words of the two Ronnies "It's goodnight from me and it's goodnight from him"

you failed once again, to call out the fake account that started this with the totally unsubstantiated claim that the a9 was "fragile", so you don't have any credibility to be calling anyone out, about anything.

As for Nikon, they don't have APS-C mirrorless at all. So they first have to get APS-C mirrorless before they can even offer an APS-C mirrorless sports body. But first, it will be a FF mirrorless sports body since they already have FF mirrorless.

@Thoughts R Us - A Sony high-end APS-C body is basically a sure thing. Sony has a different philosophy than Canon and Nikon. Sony sees their APS-C mirrorless system as a full-fledged system that encompasses both low-end entry-level bodies to higher-end advanced bodies. It's just like what Canon and Nikon did in the DSLR days. For example, Canon didn't *just* make Rebel bodies. They made XXD-series bodies (10D-80D). And they made the 7D-series bodies. They, like Nikon, had APS-C bodies that covered the whole range of users. That's what Sony is now doing in mirrorless. Sony wants to make E-mount be the "one-stop shop" mount for all levels of users, from beginner to advanced, from APS-C to FF.

I believe Sony will make an APSC sports body, but overall Sony's APSC philosophy is indeed the same as Canikon's - i.e. provide the bodies, yea, but just the most rudimentary offering of native APSC lenses.

Well Canon has been trying to push people to FF since around 2005 and Nikon since around 2007. Sony is doing the same thing. Nothing about 'not worth it'. If Sigma and others cane have successful series of APS-C lenses, then Canikony could certainly so the same. Besides they still make oddball APS-C specific lenses which nobody asks for like the Nikon 60mm macro so it's not like they can't do those lenses at all.

I have confidence that whatever cameras Nikon and Canon produce will be outstanding. But I don't have confidence that they will really explore and exploit potential mirrorless potential and come up with ideas that even Sony, Olympus, Fuji and Panasonic haven't. If the shorter flange distance has many advantages-go full bore. There will be PLENTY of D750, D800, D500 available for years and years.

>>> ask you special permission to focus-trackFirmware update has made it bit easier. Earlier you had to press OK twice, but now it needs one press of OK button. Press OK to get Tracking-rectangle. Then press AF-ON, camera will start tracking. Tracking rectangle turns from white to yellow,

Yes, this is a big issue for Nikon. Their existing super-teles are not competitive weight-wise with Canon and Sony. Yet it is difficult for them to abandon their F mount customers like Sony did with their A mount customers as there are too many of them. So they need to develop their next generation of super-teles for two mounts in a shrinking market. And yet they are a much smaller player than either Canon or Sony and cannot support the same level of R&D.

I hope they can navigate a path through it. They have made a great start with the Z system and their DSLR's are second to none.

A6000 sells for $400 a pop, mythical MILC D5 will sell for nothing less than $5000 meaning you can by 10 A6000 in case of this ultra scary camera killing rain drops and take the extra $1000 to visit shinjuku's red light district Kabukicho.. happy times ahead!

@ttran88 Well, if you're going to compare a camera you like to a mythical one, it's easy to argue there's nothing to justify a high price tag for the mythical one. Let's see what Nikon comes up with. Perhaps that patent they have for a hybrid OVF/EVF will be put to use.

In the age of digital and fast hybrid focusing it seems photographers have lost the beauty of calculating hyperfocal distance. If they ran out of battery they cannot know the rule of 1/125 f5.6 in cloudy days.

It was never going to be easy (transitioning from the venerable F mount), but once in the water, you must swim across.

What hasn't happened is a re-think of the platform as a whole. Too many subassemblies to which all the OEMs are apparently committed.

Nikon: Do something different with at least one Z model. Swivel design. Larger LCD for editing and transmission of images. Dual LCDs. At the PRO level, where is a tilt EVF or interchangeable EVFs? Try one camera with broadband connectivity and a interface for high-capacity USB thumb drives, some of which are very small and doable.

@mgm2 - "Why is it good news? What if folks still want or will want again in the future a DSLR."

The problem is that DSLRs have basically reached their technological peak. They've basically plateaued, and any additional advancements are likely to be very minor, or very expensive to implement (such as the hybrid OVF/EVF pipe dream that some DSLR fans wish was coming to DSLRs). So the question is: how much more should a camera company pour into a technology that has basically plateaued, and whose sales have been steeply declining? Not only that, complicated, high-end DSLRs such as the D5 are very expensive to produce. Mirrorless bodies such as the Z6/Z7 use a fraction of the parts and components and are far more simple to produce, thus making them less expensive to produce. At the end of the day, it comes down to money.

Strictly DSLRs are still outselling mirrorless by a quite large (but declining) margin, plus Canon and Nikon only have one competitor there, so they're unlikely to stop selling them anytime soon.

Also there's loads of tech you could put in DSLRs to improve them if you wanted to. Replacing the transparent monochrome LCD many have in their viewfinders with a full-RGB transparent OLED (available for 5+ years) would allow mirror-up operation for video to be the same as mirrorless, for example.I could go on for ages...

@Dr_Jon - "Strictly DSLRs are still outselling mirrorless by a quite large (but declining) margin,"

Yes, but that's only because of low-end bargain-basement DSLRs. The mid and upper range DSLR market is on life support as more and more of those higher-end users opt to invest in mirrorless instead.

"Replacing the transparent monochrome LCD many have in their viewfinders with a full-RGB transparent OLED (available for 5+ years) would allow mirror-up operation for video to be the same as mirrorless, for example."

Ah, yes, the mythical "hybrid EVF/OVF". It's a feature that would add cost to already expensive DSLRs like the D5, and has yet to be proven in any camera. Do you seriously think that DSLR manufacturers would put such an untested feature into a flagship DSLR? And do you really think that manufacturers would add such a cost-adding feature to DSLRs that are already having trouble competing with DSLR price and are more expensive to produce?

you can't fix the major dslr problems, like mirror misalignment, constant af fine-tuning, no wysiwyg in the viewfinder, no ability to compensate for focus shift in the lens because dslr lenses always focus wide open, etc.

"Mirrorless' big advantage is they are cheaper to make..."Not only. No mirror shock and noise, and with global shutter coming soon, no shutter shock and noise either, without rolling shutter effect... And frame rate more or less limited by sensor read-out speed...

Mirrorless entered the market during a period of accelerating, permanent decline in demand for ILC cameras.For many, there's little mirrorless has to offer over their current F gear but weight savings (but poor ergonomics if you don't have child hands), and an EVF.

Nikon singled out the D850 in their last financial report as a "strong" seller, while for the Z they said "efforts to boost sales" were continuing.

Nikon also explicitly said in that report they were going to release mid and high end products for the F system.

If ILC's were still selling well enough to fund lots of R&D, Z would fairly quickly displace F, but as it stands, over the last 5 years 99 out of 100 Nikon cameras sold are F mount, most presumably still in use, for every 1 Z sold. Now that the early adopters, and those waiting for rebates have bought Zs, now what? There aren't lots of new ILC users entering the market. Most who were eager to switch have already done so. Native Z lenses are coming at a snails pace.

@GoodKnight - "Nikon has said they will continue to build DSLR and F mount lenses."

Continue to build? Yes. Pour much more development dollars into new DSLRs and F-mount lenses? Probably not. But they'll keep building existing DSLRs and F-mount lenses. In fact, the Nikon F6 film SLR is supposedly even still in production.

@ClosePhoto - "over the last 5 years 99 out of 100 Nikon cameras sold are F mount, most presumably still in use, for every 1 Z sold."

LOL, your comment is quite ridiculous considering that Nikon just released the Z mount last year! So obviously, looking at a 5 year time scale would skew things heavily towards F mount.

I guess you're saying that Nikon just shouldn't bother with the Z mount. Same goes for Canon RF mount. It's not too late for either company to withdraw support for these mounts and return to just DSLRs. I think both Canon and Nikon have found themselves in a damned-if-we-do/damned-if-we-don't situation, and some even believe that they never should have gone down the mirrorless path at all, as discussed in this article:

@ClosePhoto Why do you compare the sales since 5 years ago if the Z6/Z7 were announced less than a year ago...

Today, one should buy an F mount lens or camera only for very specific needs, e.g. the Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4E FL ED VR Lens doesn't have yet an equivalent with Z mount... I think that Nikon should sell such lenses, that won't have their design changed for mirrorless, sold also with Z mount...

@ClosePhoto - "Nikon singled out the D850 in their last financial report as a "strong" seller,"

In the first half of last year, at the peak of D850 sales, NPD group reported that Sony had 40% FF market share, Canon had 33% market share, and Nikon only had 26% market share (by dollar value, ie dollar share of the FF market) in the US:

As the article states, Sony had 14% more dollar share than Nikon: "That’s 14% more dollar share than Nikon in a year when Nikon has delivered their highest-demand product in years, the Nikon D850." Ouch.

There's a lot of wishful thinking in this thread, and making up statistics that don't exist (like proportion of DSLR and Mirrorless cameras sold at price-points)...

Canon and Nikon sold over 8M DSLRs for many years, I doubt they will move away from making lenses, and designing a few new ones, as long as people will buy them. Most people buy a camera and keep it a long time, as they have been all-you-need for ages and it's the gear-heads buying new ones all the time. (Part of the reason for the drop in sales, cameras just got past the issues they used to have.)

I'm sure there's a D5 (Z5? Z9?) flagship on the way, but I'm more curious if there will also be a D6 announced too. I don't know if Nikon could pull of dual $6k flagships. It would be nice to have some word from Nikon about where their DSLRs are going, but that goes against Nikon (and Canon, and Sony) culture.

@Dr_Jon - It's quite possible that the rise of mirrorless has thrown a wrench in those DSLR plans. 3+ years ago, I think Canon and Nikon were still hoping that mirrorless would go nowhere. Canon and Nikon were still thinking that mirrorless would just be an adjunct to DSLRs, which is why Canon had the EOS M system and Nikon had the 1 system-- not replacements for DSLRs, but merely additions to DSLRs. But the rise of the Sony FF mirrorless system, and more recently the A9, changed all of that. Now, more and more users see MILCs to be replacements to DSLRs. More and more are seeing MILCs to be the successors to DSLRs. So it doesn't matter that CaNikon might have started developing 1DXIII and D6 3 years ago. That was then. This is now.

Plenty of rumors say the D6 will be out before the Olympics. No way Nikon will go to Olympics with untested gear with no native superteles so people would rely on adapters for their mission critical shots. Any mirrorless D5 successor will be probably a 2021 launch IMO. Sony won't license it's stacked sensor to anyone else, so Nikon will need its own patents. Of course they know all this but there has been zero indidcation of them developing the sensors needed for a camera like this.

Good point that the mirrorless tide led by Sony has to have changed future plans, but I really can't see Canon or Nikon releasing only a mirrorless flagship for the Japan Olympics. Too conservative and too important an event.

I don't know what the D5 can really improve either - maybe hybrid viewfinder and a sensor with good video AF? More MP? But then, the D4S was amazing and the D5 is better still, so I'm sure Nikon will have something cool to show off.

I wonder if Nikon's hope for the Olympics is one of their photographers with a D5/D5S/D6 with the 180-400, and then a Z7 with their 70-200 f/2.8Z, and a Z6 with their 24-70 f/2.8 Z. That's a great kit and with the video abilities of the Z6 and Z7 that could be really flexible. But it's also the cost of a pretty good car.

EJ I totally agree. I have been saying this for months. Those who have a huge investment in F mount glass are now left with outdated cameras or having to use an adapter. Nikon needs to realize that it was because they kept the F mount is why they have such a loyal following.

The same mount would simply not be optimum for mirrorless. It would cripple the system. However I agree adaptors are a PITA. My advice is unless there is a compelling reason to run two systems, bite the bullet, go cold turkey and convert. Apologies for the mixed metaphor.

@David610. Unfortunately it's not just the cameras that are outdated. F mount lenses are also outdated. They lack the electronic communication capabilities and rapid focus movements required that are now required. DSLR lenses only needed to move the focus point about 12x a second. The latest mirrorless lenses from Panasonic can focus at 240x a second. Data transfer data to/from the camera needs to be much faster for these focus movement rates. Restricting their new mirrorless system to the communication speeds of the F mount for their new mirrorless system was never a viable option for Nikon. If it were possible they would have done it.

@Peter 1745 Why can't the communication speeds of the F mount be similarly improved. Why can't new F mount lenses have the latest technologies. My guess is that it was marketing and NOT engineering that drove the new mount idea. Look at the Canon Lens Museum to see how long it took Canon to fill out its portfolio of EF lenses and then http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html for the Nikon story. Those Z mount lenses will take decades to arrive. If Nikon survives?

Nikon doesn't need 40 new lenses. Three would do the job, a 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200, all VR and f/2.8. That would cover newsies and most enthusiasts. Throw in a 300/2.8, 400/2.8 and 600/4, and that would cover 90% of professional needs.

I would expect near DSLR performance for legacy lenses, with the same or updated adapter used for current Z bodies. In addition to improved optics, Nikon will probably change to linear AF actuators, which are 3x faster than AF-S, more accurate, and lighter. You give up simple, direct-coupled MF, but that's not an issue for pro applications.

At this stage in the ML realm, I would only use a mirrorless body as a secondary body or one for wide angle corner endzone shots. Mirrorless with wide glass? Yes! Mirrorless with tele/super-tele primes/zooms? Hells to the naw!!!

Following the recent firmware upgrade, auto-focus in the Sony A9, A7Riii and A7iii changed completely. Face and eye recognition are every-day modes, not novelty items. Tracking is quick, sticky, and holds to the edge of the visible frame and back, not only faces but objects too.I used to tune the AF mode to particular situations, but no longer. Every mode works, even if some work slightly better at times. The D5 has 126 focusing spots in the center 25% of the frame. Sony has nearly 700, nearly to the edges. Stick that in your prism ;)

So the reality is that you actually have more structural integrity when mounting a telephoto to a MILC such as Z6/A9 than you have with most DSLRs. With MILCs, you basically have metal monocoque bodies. With DSLRs, you typically have plastic inner core surrounded by metal outer panels. And yet, you don't hear people saying "DSLR with tele/super-tele primes/zooms? Hells to the naw!!!"

@Ed Ingold, that's good to know. At least ONE camera company is improving focus tracking. Too late for my bro tho. He's long since gone over to the dark side (Canon). I think the only reason he didn't come over to my Nikon side of the Force is because of the cost of the (overpriced) glass. LOL

@T3, the problem with MILC and AF for tele lenses is not related to the structrural integrity (which btw may be one reason for the need of AF tuning for DSLR), but the fact that the accuracy of on-sensor phase unit is not as good as those of the DSLR.

This issue can be seen on telephoto lenses, but also on lower focal lenses at short AF distance: no MILC is as accurate as a DSLR at short distance. This is just related to physics (triangulation ratio).

@ddavis All lenses will get a redesign because of the advantages ML has over slr. Super telephotos will benefit the most because of the 'lens compression' at those focal lengths. A9 tracks at 60 fps without interruption from a mirror going 12 - 14 fps. That number is only going to increase, so the lenses need to be able to keep up with that tracking. Something like the dual linear motors in Sony's 135mm 400mm and 600mm will eventually get introduced to combat this by all manufacturers

Hate to break it to you, but the industry is moving away from the "mechanical design" of a flapping mirror. And all manufacturers are moving away from the deep flange distances of the past. It's basically unanimous throughout the industry (with the exception of oddball Pentax which continues to cling exclusively to DSLRs). By the 2024 Olympics, "mechanical design" DSLRs will be not much more than a memory.

@Philip Slrs have an extra system of phase detection in the mirror box that needs to be calibrated with the sensor for each lens that goes with that camera. ML run straight of the sensor. Single point autofocus accuracy has been great for a decade with ML. Now they're starting to track better too; they have a whole sensor worth of information to dig into

1) The Nikon exec did not give a time frame...so sure it will come but when? I still believe Nikon releases a D6 first as the 2020 Olympics will be shot on DSLRs. Sports market not changing over so fast.

2) What is also funny is some are comparing this mythical beast with another mythical beast, the Sony a9ii...which again is nothing more than vaporware at this point.

I think that if Canon/Nikon introduced new flagship DSLRs, they would most likely be $6000 and $6500 like their current bodies were. By that time, Sony's A9 will have dropped to $3000 (or less), and a newer A9II will be on the horizon. Additionally, Sony will probably finally release their long-expected APS-C flagship pro body (mini A9) that will match the A9's specs and performance (20 fps, long battery life, stacked BSI CMOS, silent shooting, zero VF blackout, no rolling shutter, IBIS), but with an APS-C sensor and probably a price of $2000 (or less). At that point, I think a lot of Canon/Nikon users are going to have to think long and hard about whether it makes sense to invest another $6-6.5K in old flapping-mirror technology when the future is clearly mirrorless. In other words, new flagship DSLRs would be facing a serious headwind. Anyone who thinks new flagship DSLRs would be sure-bet winners in sales are being overly optimistic and probably a bit naive.

@thoughts Do you really think sony is going to bring a 3 year old camera to the Tokyo Olympics...? After releasing a 135mm f1.8, 400mm f2.8 and a 600mm f4. Even canon releases a new camera for the Olympics

@yxa Nobody worries about an a9's battery. If you really wanted to over shoot your sport you could easily clock 20k shots on it. The battery life is more about run time than shots taken. Slrs have matured, and as beautiful as the flagships are their days are numbered as a workhorse for photographers. Itll take a while for a pro to move on but they will, and Sony got there first. Canon looks like they're going to announce another ML camera, probably a replacement for a 5d, but it could be a 1dx replacement; it shoots at 30fps they say. Change is scary

There are more lenses available for Sony cameras than any other mount.

You want to compare the A9II with the D6?

The A9II will shoot more frames, have better AF, better tracking, faster focussing, more accurate focussing, silent, blackout-free shooting. The only metric where the D6 will beat the A9II is in battery life.

The article states that there's a strong possibility that a $900 Nikon mirrorless would be APS-C. It makes sense because that's what Nikon needs: APS-C mirrorless.

I don't think Nikon can afford to launch a FF mirrorless body at only $900. Seems unlikely. There would be little to no profit in it, and Nikon just can't afford to be giving away FF bodies like that. The cheapest Canon could go was $1299 with their EOS RP, and Canon is a much bigger, wealthier company than Nikon. Can Nikon really afford to undercut Canon's entry-level FF MILC by $400? Again, seems unlikely.

@T3 Interesting article. I'm still wondering why Canon or Nikon didn't decide to simply convert their existing mounts into mirrorless. Take out the flapping mirror and insert an EVF. The cameras would only have been a little thicker (but the grip is much thicker anyway) and all the old lenses would have worked: https://camerasize.com/compact/#799.790,795.785,495.455,716.368,ha,f

The benefits of the new mounts feel overblown. Canon was already making incredibly sharp lenses that were about the same size/weight as their new mirrorless ones. And it's no wonder some new lenses like the 50mm 1.2 are much better—the old EF 50mm 1.2 had half the elements, half the weight, 20 year old coatings so it's no wonder it's much less well corrected. Plus Sony has some amazing lenses for their theoretically non-optimal mount.

People on dpreview live in a bubble. On this forum we turn over gear left and right because most of us are gear heads, in reality most pros are still using the same Canon and Nikon bodies they purchased a few years ago. People just don't switch at the drop of a hat. There was and never has been some crazy jump where everyone magically dumped all their gear and switched to Sony. What happened is most of the market has moved onto smartphones (even journalists) and as such Canon and Nikon's numbers have fallen. Mirrorless is more about marketing and less about the technology for Nikon and Canon. It's a reason to create a new lens lineup, increase prices, and reinvigorate a stale market.

Yes and no, IMO. Yes, DPreview is mainly gear heads and most of us are probably enthusiasts photographers, not professionals. Yes, most people don't switch at the drop of a hat because it's just too expensive to do it. Where I disagree is that a lot of people did make a switch to Sony from other kits and have little intention of moving back. I also think Nikon and Canon have both been hurt by having to create new lenses. It's going to set them back for several years at least.

I am glad to hear the Nikon is coming out with a D5 level mirrorless. It's a pretty good indicator that mirrorless is the future.

I am sure Nikon and Canon had their 5 year plan that led to the announcement today. It was not a random thought. I would say they milked the DSLR with the D850 to the last drop and who knows if we see a D760 and D860 still. I dont see a D6.

Nikon has to really develop the Z line of lenses that are native no adaptor. The good news for the rest is in time all this stuff will nose dive in cost for the mirrored non Z lenses to use on a mirrorless body.

I say the big deal is eye AF.

So no more will it be Nikon vs Canon, but vs Sony and Panasonic. Great for the consumer

Of course there will be a D6, no way are the Sports photographers for the next Olympics (in Tokyo!) going to risk anything that isn't exactly what they are used to (bar a few with some sort of link to a camera company, you'll be able to count the A9IIs and OMD EM1Xs on your fingers).

That's the bomb I was waiting for - Nikon will stay alive and they have to have a fast camera without mirror for the Olympics.

There is no place for a D6 and a D6 can't reach 20 fps through pentaprism with mechanic.The fast & heavy game for DSLR seems to be over.Problem are the lenses - Canon ml can't even compete in af-speed against Sony ml and I doubt a faster EOS R can change that with the "wrong" af-motors in the super-tele. No adapter comes close to Sony without adapter.I tried it several times with R and even EOS 5IV or 1DXII are not as fast and steady on subject like Sony A9 (new firmware).

What vaporware. Nikon is very nervous about the 1DXMKIII about to be released and they grasping for straws so the rest of their D5 don't jump completely to Canon. Bright sun, fast action, OVF, killer glass, and a focus system 2nd to none. If the 1DXMKIII has the color rendition we're hearing about the D5 will be a real value for amateur and enthusiasts as the pros trade them in for the 1DXMKIII. Most shooting the D5 and 1DXMKII are pro sports shooters with a few journalists thrown in. Crazy to think a EVF in bright light will be a sports pros cup of tea. CRAZY

@Thoughts R Us - "Yes the early word is the 1DXIII will be a real winner..."

Coming from the guy who said that Canon and Nikon FF mirrorless would be real winners:

"Canon will crush Sony from here on out. And Sony gets no more converts from Canon or Nikon. Maybe a few switching back. To new users, they will no longer see Sony as the only game in town if you want smaller high quality FF mirrorless. They will see the names of the giants and many will choose them over Sony.

Nikon will outsell Sony. I can guarantee you that Canon will outsell Sony by a very wide margin. Sony will be consigned to small share of the FF mirrorless market; they've had 100% with no competition. Now they will are going to get besieged by all sides. Even Panasonic will swoop in and take away the video shooters from Sony."

@ttran88: for some people the same goes with Sony. But funny how most pro sports shooters use Canon...I may not know what I am talking about but they do.

@T3: Once again you flatter me with the time and effort you put into researching and cataloging my past comments. And yes, I make mistakes. Do you? If you have ever been wrong before, does that mean we should never listen to you ever again? And yes, we will see with the 1DXIII...I am confident it will be a superior product.

BTW, I still maintain that overall Canon will overtake Sony in FF MILC...just give it some time.

@Thoughts R Us - Back in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, you were probably the kind of guy who would have said, "BTW, I still maintain that overall Nikon will overtake Canon in autofocus SLRs (and DSLRs)...just give it some time." The reality is that once Nikon lost their lead to Canon, they never gained it back, in spite of having a massive installed user base, a huge pool of "loyal" Nikon F users, and decades of Nikon F heritage behind them. You would STILL be saying to this day, "Give it some time. Nikon will overtake Canon."

Times change. Users change. Technology changes. Leadership in the market changes. Once, everyone was buying IBM PCs. Now, IBM doesn't even make PCs anymore. Once, everyone was using Nokia and Blackberry phones. Now, hardly anyone does. Once, Kodak was synonymous with photography. Now, they are almost totally off the photography radar. Times change.

@T3: ah, the tired analogy between the Nikon/Canon SLR days...it gets old after a while.

You are right: times are changing and the really huge change is the camera being reinvented as a smartphone. That is the big transition we are seeing. Unfortunately this means the dedicated camera market is shrinking fast.

@Thoughts R Us - "ah, the tired analogy between the Nikon/Canon SLR days...it gets old after a while."

Your TOTALLY WRONG predictions regarding Canon and Nikon's recent sales with their FF mirrorless releases are evidence that my analogy is not very "old" at all. In fact, it's apt to recent events. You are just blind to it and in denial, just as fans of Kodak, Nokia, Blackberry, and Nikon were in the past.

"@T3: ah, the tired analogy between the Nikon/Canon SLR days...it gets old after a while."

You're not really in a position to criticise, you rewrite the same comment over and over. Why do you maintain Canon will 'overtake Sony in FF'? Explain why you think that would happen - let's see your reasoning.

That means Sony finally sells stacked sensors to third parties! [Otherwise the camera would be doa, and Nikon knows that]

And that is great news! Maybe Sony also finally bridges the gap between 1" and FF stacked sensors, if they are selling them anyway. This is not only good news for Nikon shooters, but also for Panasonic, Fuji and Olympus shooters. And I can't wait to see stacked sensors go mainstream!

Nearly all their high end smartphone chips are stacked sensors. From 1/3 over 1/2.6, 1/2.3, 1/2 to 1/1.7. And Sony sells those to pretty much all customers. (And yes Huawei and Apple use stacked chips in their flagships)

This is kind of “Duh”. Of course they will. Question is when. I will be shocked (and pleasantly surprised) if Nikon is able to turn out a D5 level AF system with an OSPDAF in the next year or even two. And when they do, then we will see whether the translation in the adapter is able to keep up as they won’t have all the glass they need in native Z by then.

Same here. Seeing is believing in regards to Nikon's mirrorless AF system. Or ANY mirrorless system compared to a mechanical DSLR AF system. The D500 (and the D5 by extension) autofocus tracking and focus locking is outstanding and second to none.

Did I say "everyone will use Nikon mirrorless D5 if Nikon releases it?". If Nikon is working on a mirrorless D5, it is only good for photographers. As simple as that. Didn't say "Nikon will kill Sony, Nikon will dominate Olympics, everyone will rush to buy that".

No Way will a "mirrorless D6" be introduced based on the fantasy that pro sports photographers will use it at the 2020 Olympics. Pro photographers are not photo hobbyist gearheads. . . The adoption of mirrorless for professional sports photography will be a slow and methodical process. No one wants to risk their professional reputation on nascent photo technology.

Sports shooters are not going to abandon DSLRs for the Olympics; as lightandprayer makes clear, they will not want the risk of learning mirrorless. And no matter how great mirrorless is or can be, it still is something new and involves a learning curve.

Pro sports people don't care about smaller body size; they have to use huge lenses anyway. They want robust bodies that can hold up to use and abuse and pair well with large lenses.

Canon will have a 1DXIII and it will be fabulous, and most pro sports shooters will be using Canon at the 2020 Olympics. BTW, Canon is an official sponsor fo the 2020 Olympics and so will really be pulling out all of the stops for that; expect the 1DXIII to shine.

Exactly. Pro sports shooters know that DSLR's are the best for what we shoot. I'll never forget my sideline mate agonizing trying to get his keeper rate higher on the Sony system that he finally gave up and switched to Canon after a couple years in. He hadn't invested in a ton of glass yet, so it made that transition much much easier.

Tracking a moving target laterally is easy. The biggest problem with mirrorless systems in terms of action sports is quickly re-focusing on a subject that is moving towards and or away from the camera after tracking the subject laterally. The Nikon Z6 suffers from this too. Also, the split second lag time is a pain and in shooting football; you're always looking at a subject that WAS in the spot where you were focusing. One can't always predict where a player is going to move or change direction next.

Well it's time to kiss goodbye any illusions you had that Canikon won't be dominating ML too. The D5 was the king of DSLRs and this version will do the same in ML. Im investing in Kleenex stocks right away...

"it is all about fast lenses - Nikon has none, Canon has none -for DSLM with perfect AF-Motor"

Sony didn't' have any big lenses when the A9 came out, just the 1 prime. Do you really think a D5 owner wouldn't just adapt the Z* to their existing lenses? At least it's a fully functioning adapter that works seamlessly.

How many on this thread ever owned a D5, or even a D4 or D3.?The pro market is tiny compared to the enthusiast market, but appeals to the aspirations of those who want to be like the pros but can't afford the price of entry, and settle for the marque.

Currently, Nikon MILC keep the iris at the selected aperture constantly up to f/5.6. So shooting at f/5.6 or faster, all Nikon F mount lenses irises can handle 20 FPS or even more, as they won't have to move.

With regards to AF, its harder to say for certain, but their f/2.8 pro zoom have extremely fast AF motors, while exotic telephotos popular with Olympic sports shooters have even faster AF motors. It wouldn't be surprising if those could handle 20 FPS.

Well Yxa has a point, i wasn't aiming the comment at any system in particular but there's definitely one group that came out on fire. And my comment applies to even my system of choice of MFT, however it doesn't bother me, my G9 works as well today as it will when a ML D5 arrives.

I think some people's sense of superiority is very fragile and that's why we see these kinds of responses around here.

"I think some people's sense of superiority is very fragile and that's why we see these kinds of responses around here."

Lol. Says the man who wrote this piece of over-throttled flame bait:

"Well it's time to kiss goodbye any illusions you had that Canikon won't be dominating ML too. The D5 was the king of DSLRs and this version will do the same in ML. Im investing in Kleenex stocks right away..."

If it's flame bait then i would be going after my own system as i don't own Nikon or Canon (nor do i plan on buying their ML), and i own MFT. Or...... perhaps it wasn't flame bait at all, perhaps it was me putting forth an idea that is likely to happen and some people here just can't deal with that possibility.

I think somebody said it earlier, the pro level market is super small in volume, the market domination will be won with entry and mid level. And that's where Canikon has it won thanks to their lenses.

E mount has some great lenses but they are waaaay out of the range of 99% of ILC users, while you can adapt with native-like functionality, the entire line of Canikon glass to their respective ML systems with 1st party adapters.

All that affordable great glass that many already have, with tons more on the used market. It makes the idea of buying into those two systems much easier for the average user than E mount is.

It was. This is the problematic sentence: "Im investing in Kleenex stocks right away..."

"some people here just can't deal with that possibility."

Nope. They just don't think it will happen. I've been using SLRS since the late 70s. I've seen a lot of companies, trends, fads and products come and go.

It wasn't a Nikon/Canon dupopoly then and isn't going to be in the future. Both companies benefited from a period where they had little competition.

Sony (and Panasonic) represent formidable competition to Canikon in the post DSLR era. Sony's excellence in camera, lens and sensor manufacture puts them in pole position. Canon has marketing strength but technologically is playing catch-up. Nikon has decades of engineering skill, reputation and good-will, but is dependent on third parties for many of their core technologies and simply can't afford the R&D to put them on an equal footing.

Nothing wrong with a little comedy in a post. My Kleenex comment was simply a prediction just like yours. I think Sony, Fuji, Panasonic and Olympus will continue to make nice products but i don't think they will stop Canikon from being the market leaders, and i think when those cards fall, many people here who are emotionally invested in this brand war will be very unhappy.

It sounds like someone cleaned up the food fight in the board room, now they're getting down to business.

This is going to progress on several fronts. In camera design, it's harder to decide what to do than how to do it. Sony has set that goal to be focus and tracking. While Sony has concentrated, until lately, on high quality primes lenses, Nikon's strength is built on high quality zoom lenses, rugged enough for the field, good enough to be good enough. Best of all, Nikon is very good at zoom lenses, so the equivalent of a Sony-Zeiss alliance is unlikely

Nikon also has an advantage in price point for a professional camera. If customers weren't scared off with a $6K price tag for the flagship DSLR, Nikon has $1500 to play with vs the $4500 A9.

Exactly, the FTZ adapter works seamlessly with F mount glass, it's been used thoroughly since the release of the Z6/7. The argument that a Nikon Mirrorless sports camera having no lenses is moot, as they have more pro-level primes and zooms than sony through the F mount.

Marketing 101: All brands need to fight for positioning and top-of-mind.So when there is nothing new to offer, just make some claim saying "there is something in the works" so people at the photography forums can talk about you for the next 3 hours.

Mariano you didn't understand. A9 is a serious rival and with the Sony announcing new telephoto lenses AND with the rumoured A9 II, Nikon may think D3s/D4 users may upgrade to A9 II. They give a message like "don't worry you are covered".But I don't think Nikon will come up with a mirrorless D5. Without native 200mm f2.0, 70-200mm f2.8, 300mm f2.8 and 400mm f4 it is pointless to release a fast body only for Olympics.

In 1948, Nikon said they were introducing a twin-lens reflex camera. They never did! Fiasco! Insult! Don't they care about customers? Nobody who knows anything has ever trusted them since, and that's why they've been dying in the market ever since. It's a slow death, I admit, but there's no stopping it. You can't recover from that kind of fiasco. Truly bad. Let's remind them about it every time their name is mentioned.

I'm more interested in the $900 model number which is rumored. Hopefully it still has an EVF just a lower resolution one. My D600 is a pain with portraits the way its AF points are all in the middle. I honestly got more consistent results with my A6000 due to wider frame coverage. Even my D3300 has a higher keep rate with portraits.

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All three devices offer a standard 12MP camera plus, for the first time on an iPhone, an ultra-wide 13mm camera module. The 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max also retain the telephoto camera of previous generations.

Phase One's new XT camera system incorporates the company's IQ4 series of digital backs with up to 151MP of resolution and marries them to a line of Rodenstock lenses using the new XT camera body. The result is an impressively small package for one of the largest image sensors currently on the market - take a closer look here.

Phase One has announced its new XT camera system, which includes an IQ4 digital back, body (made up of a shutter release button and two dials) and a trio of Rodenstock lenses. The company is marketing the XT as a 'travel-friendly' product for landscape photographers.